HTC To Restructure, Cut Employees By 15%

TAOYUAN, TAIWAN — HTC will reduce operating expenditures by 35 percent and its headcount by an expected 15 percent while it reorganizes to position the company “for significant profitable growth with a leaner and more agile operating model,” the company announced.

HTC will also create of new business units to focus more on “profitable growth in our key areas of premium smartphones, virtual reality, and connected lifestyle products,” the company said.

“Now, as we diversify beyond smartphones, we need a flexible and dynamic organization to ensure we can take advantage of all of the exciting opportunities in the connected lifestyle space,” said chairwoman/ CEO Cher Wang. “This strategic realignment of our business will ensure that each product group has the right focus, the right resources and the right expertise to win new markets.”

The announcements follow a second quarter in which the company reversed four consecutive quarters of net profits to post a net loss of NT$8 billion ($252.7 million), an operating loss of NT$ 5.1 billion ($161.1 million), and revenues of NT$33 billion ($1.04 billion), down 49 percent from the year-ago NT$65.1 billion.

At the time, the company said it would trim its smartphone portfolio and operating costs, expand its selection of more profitable premium phones, develop more trendy handsets, and maintain current initiatives to enter the virtual-reality and interconnecteddevice markets, including fitness products.